"What are y'all talking about because I heard Carmens name?"
"Ain't nobody talking about Carmen Tyrell, don't start to be a jealous little dickhead now just because you heard her name once."As he said that the rest of the group stood up and looked at Tyrell, smirking and laughing.
"Listen, I'm not asking again, start talking. All y'all know I don't like conflict, but this is different, this is about Carmen. Tell me what you guys were saying about her."
"This guy for real thinks he's like that or something." Jamar said as he turned around for a moment to let out a laugh with the other students in the group "Look, since you really want to know what we were saying, I just said she looked good like all Latinas normally do." Jamar leaned in a bit closer and softly said "She got some more thickness on her though."
Jamar was looking him up and down as he leaned backwards again with a smile on his face. The others were laughing, clutching their heads and dapping each other up. Tyrell clenched his fists, and his eyes would narrow down a bit, glaring at Jamar. While this was going on, Tyler got most of the snacks he needed but had one more he wanted, being absolutely obnoxious to the situation happening behind him. He put another coin in the machine, but the snack got stuck, he sighed and kissed his teeth as he tried giving the vending machine a little push, but it didn't work. A boy wearing a beanie, sitting criss cross nearby eating a banana, noticed him doing this. Tyler sighed, stepping back a little and giving the vending machine a harder push, this time it would swing backwards and forwards due to the impact. The machine would swing forwards one final time as it slowly began falling. Tyler noticed it was about to fall and tried jumping out of the way, he tripped over his own feet and couldn't move out of the way in time. Just then, a huge black hand grabbed the top of the vending machine and caught it before it could crush Tyler. As it pulled the vending machine up Tyler saw a giant ape covered in orange hair, yellow piercing eyes that made him shiver and start hyperventilating. As a drop of sweat ran down his forehead, he tried standing up.
"A-An orangutan? That big? But Jamar already–" Tyler asked himself out loud.
"Wrong, weak guy." The boy wearing the beanie cut him off. He walked over to him covered in orange-brown aura slowly fading away, eating the last bite of his banana and throwing it on the ground next to him. He was dressed in a black sweatshirt and pants. His beanie was fully black with an orange icon on the front, curly hair was coming out from sides of the beanie. Tyler fully stood up and inspected the icon some more. It was shaped like the open mouth of a gorilla. The boy was also fairly tall, looking down at Tyler scoffing at him.
"It's a Gigantopithecus. Don't think my anima would be inferior to any other apes. Anyways, what were you going to say after that?" he asked with a smile.
"I was just confused because Jamar would have the same one and no one's ever seen that- But thank you for saving me! I for sure would've gotten hurt badly... Wait, what if a teacher saw you?! I don't want you getting in trouble because of me."
"I don't care about what the teacher would do. You were in trouble and couldn't save your weak self, so I helped you out. Besides I do it all the time."
"You're not scared of getting caught?"
"Nah, why would I? I'm strong enough to deal with it."
"Wouldn't that be a little arrogant? Oh, here's a bag of chips for saving me, by the way I'm Tyler." he asked him as he grabbed the rest of the snacks he dropped on the floor as he put them in his bag.
"Alfonso. And no, it's not naive if it's true." he said while shrugging and grinning.
"Hm, fair enough. I've seen you around here before and multiple times outside of the principal's office. What grade are you in?" Tyler said as looked around and saw Tyrell standing closer to Jamar than normal.
"12th grade."
"One above me and Tyrell huh? Speaking of him- he's having a bit of trouble over there, so I need to check on him really quickly. I'll see you later!" he nervously chuckled and ran over to what was happening. Tyrell put his hands in his pockets and slightly turned his head as Tyler arrived. Jamar looked at both of them and put one of his hands on his head, rubbing it in a circular motion as he started releasing a strong dark green aura out of his body. A large tree would sprout out of the ground in the cafeteria, hitting the ceiling as kids around would be looking at what was going on. The force of it made a small gust of wind. Tyler would look at Tyrell with concern. Tyrell kept looking him dead in the eyes, not breaking eye contact even for a second. Seeing that made Jamar take a step back. A large arm would come out of Jamar's aura, covered in light orange hair as it grabbed one of the branches of the tree that sprouted, revealing its face. It was an orangutan; it jumped onto the ground looking at Tyrell and showing its teeth. It stepped closer to Tyrell, his heart started beating faster and it was hard to keep his breathing under control. He got his hands out of his pockets and put his arms up in front of him to shield himself if anything were to happen. Tyler stepped forward so he would stand right next to him, putting a hand on his back and using his other arm to cover his face.
"What's going on?! I was gone for a few minutes, and now you're being attacked by Jamar?" Tyler yelled in Tyrell's face.
"We'll talk about it later. I don't know what to do about this big ass orangutan in front of us right now!"
As the orangutan came closer to the pair, stretching out its hand to get a hold of Tyrell, Alfonso walked past the two and kicked the orangutan's arm out of the way. Jamar looked at him with a shocked but also angered expression. His orangutan showed its teeth once more and started slapping the ground in anger, making aggressive noises. Alfonso smiled at it, making it even angrier than before. He made two fists and put them together, releasing his own orange-brown aura. It came out at a fast rate, clashing with Jamar's and overwhelming it in a few seconds. Bamboo began growing out of it around Alfonso almost instantly, making the Orangutan back up a little due to it shooting out of the ground. Alfonso's smile got even bigger, his eyes widening and shining with excitement. The orangutan would scream and jump towards Alfonso, a large hand covered in orange hair grabbed the orangutan out of the aura and bamboo by its head and pushed it into the cafeteria's floor, cracking it bit by bit. As the Gigantopithecus revealed its head, it'd grunt and show its teeth right in front of the orangutan's head. Jamar fell back and moved his feet in an attempt to get further away from Alfonso and his anima. His forehead was covered in sweat, the hairs on his arm standing up from fear. Alfonso pushed the bamboo out of the way and walked over to him, the orangutan was trying to grab his leg before he could reach him. It got lifted up and the Gigantopithecus used his other hand to grab his neck. The orangutan tried to loosen the grip weighing down the arm using its feet. Alfonso bent down and got close to Jamar's face, starting to laugh. The laugh would echo in Jamar's head as his aura faded away and the orangutan got absorbed into it as well.
"I thought you were stronger than that, you acted like it." Alfonso said as he stood straight again. Tyrell gasped and lowered his arms. Tyler looked at him in awe, being amazed by how quickly he was able to put Jamar and his anima down. He looked over to Tyrell and admired one of the bamboo shoots that grew out of the ground. Alfonso walked away as his aura enveloped his anima and it faded away. Jamar got up on his feet and shakily signaled his group to come with him, as he walked away quickly. He stopped right in front of Tyrell and turned his head sideways.
"And you are?" Alfonso asked him.
"Tyrell. Thanks for helping out just now."
"Gotta help those weaker than me from time to time. I helped your buddy just now too. He almost got crushed by the vending machine." Tyrell looked at Tyler disappointed and face palmed.
"How many times have I told you to watch out when dealing with that thing?" Tyrell asked Tyler.
"Sorry! The vending machine wouldn't give me my bag of chips..." Tyrell walked up to him and pressed his finger against his forehead while shaking his head. Alfonso chuckled and started walking off.
"See you two weaklings later, classes are starting. Don't get in trouble."
"Alright later Alfonso. Let's go Ty, you've got math, and I need to go to anima usage."
They started walking towards their classrooms, going up the stairs of the school, the walls were filled with vines, flowers and moss. All kinds of exotic plants were scattered across the ground next to the stairs, and the windows were all opened to let as much fresh air in as possible. As the duo got to the second floor, they parted ways and entered their classrooms. Tyrell sat down and put his books on the table, checking his phone to see if Carmen had responded yet. There was nothing. He sighed and put it back into his pocket. Miss Falconer entered the classroom and greeted the students with a smile, opening the window next to her desk and checking one of the drawers. Afterwards, she faced the class.
"Hello my younglings. Go ahead and open your books up to page 65. Now for the subject I told you to do research on, I will randomly choose one of you to answer it."
She looked around the classroom, seeing all the students unpack their bags and try to avoid eye contact with her. Tyrell was looking out of the window as a group of students was busy on the school's field with anima summoning training. A giraffe peaked its head up to the glass of the window and licked it, Tyrell chuckled and waved at it. Miss Falconer pointed at him.
"Go ahead Tyrell. What types of animas are there?" She asked him as she walked around his table in circles.
"Hmm...Bird types, fish types, mammals, invertebrates, reptile types and amphibian types ma'am."
"Correct! And what has impact on the type of anima you get?"
"The anima you get in general is based on your personality and qualities."
"Good. What is needed for anima summoning?" she asked as she stood still by the window.
"Uhm...A certain action or hand sign that's personal to you?"
"Exactly. For someone who comes late to class often, you do pick up things quickly. Remember, it could also be connected to a certain object the user is close to, not just their body. Now class, go to page 66 about tethering your anima to a personal action or hand sign." Tyrell flipped the page and started reading about tethering one's anima to themselves. The book said, 'you can consciously choose what to tether your anima' After reading this, Tyrell's eyes darted around the room as he started to think about what his one would be. 'There really ain't any use to figuring out what it would be. I won't be needing it anyway.' He thought to himself as he noticed the classrooms door opening slowly. Carmen walked in looking around, seeing that miss falconer was facing the other way and in conversation with the other students. She quietly walked over to Tyrell, giving him a hug and sitting down next to him with as little sound as possible.
"So, miss Garcia. You really didn't think I would see you coming into class late, just because my back was turned huh?"
She proceeded to shake her head and point towards the open window next to her desk. As the students all looked towards the window, they could see a hawk fly by at a fast pace. It circled around the area and flew by the students taking the anima summoning training. They all followed its flight pattern as it flapped its wings and glided into the classrooms window. It landed elegantly onto miss falconers' desk and turned its head a few times to look at the students. A loud sound began ringing throughout the school, it was the bell. As every student got up out of their seat, Tyrell and Carmen stood up and gave each other a hug immediately.